Jay-Z 'cried' when his mum came out because 'she was free', rapper reveals

The rapper revealed his reaction to David Letterman

Jay-Z revealed he cried when his mother Gloria Carter came out to him last year.

In a clip from his forthcoming interview with David Letterman on his Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, the rapper explained how happy he was to see his mother being her truest self.

"Imagine having to live your life as someone else, and you think you’re protecting your kids,” Jay told Letterman. “For my mother, to have to live as someone she wasn’t and hide and protect her kids, [not] wanting to embarrass her kids, for all this time and for her to sit in front of me and tell me, ‘I think I love someone’."

He then described what happened next was extremely emotional for him: "I cried, that’s a real story. I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free."

Jay said that the moment happened eight months ago and she told him when his latest album 4:44 was being made.

"I made the song (‘Smile’) the next day I knew (about her sexuality), but this was the first time we had the conversation and I heard her say that she loved her partner," he explained. "‘I feel like I love somebody’. She said ‘I feel like’. She held that little bit back still."

Jay felt strange about the way he reacted to the news from his mum: "I just cried. I don’t even believe in crying because you’re happy. I don’t even know what that is, what is that?"

On the track, Jay rapped about the story of his mother revealing her sexuality: “Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian/Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian/Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate/Society shame and the pain was too much to take/Cried tears of joy when you fell in love/Don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her."

At the end of "Smile," the song featured a poem from Gloria, publicly coming out as gay for the first time.

She said, "Living in the shadow. Can you imagine what kind of life it is to live? In the shadows people see you as happy and free, because that’s what you want them to see. Living two lives, happy but not free."

On the D'USSE Friday podcast, Gloria opened up about her journey last year saying, "I was never ashamed of me. In my family, it was something that was never discussed… I’m tired of all the mystery. I’m gonna give it to ‘em. I don’t have to worry about anybody wondering if I’m in the life or not, I’m gonna tell them. So now that I told you, what do you have to talk about? So now maybe you can focus on the phenomenal things I do, so focus on that… Now it’s time for me to be free."

Jay-Z's episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction will air on April 6.